STARS
The STARS (STructure, Astrophysics, Reaction and Spectroscopy) group comprises around ten scientists (50% permanent staff and 50% PhD students or postdoctoral researchers) who work in the fields of nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. We use direct reactions of heavy ions at energies between 1 and 100 A.MeV, as well as high-resolution spectroscopy techniques. The experimental programme is primarily conducted at the GANIL facilities using the cyclotrons complex, as well as at GSI, RIKEN, Tandem/ALTO and, in the near future, FRIB. The group’s scientific interests include the study of shell evolution in the vicinity of the 20, 28, and 40 shell closures through direct reactions; the investigation of shape coexistence using radioactive beams; the role of the 3-body term in the structure of exotic nuclei, clustering in nuclei, and the spectroscopy of resonant states in highly exotic nuclei up to the drip lines. Our group is also involved in studying reactions in stellar explosive environments in nuclear astrophysics using high-resolution spectroscopy and direct reactions. At the Neutron for Science (NFS) beam line, the group conducts and collaborates on experiments combining high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy and the world’s most intense fast neutron beams at the SPIRAL2 linac.
The STARS group plays a key role in supporting the experimental programme at GANIL. The facility hosts a broad scientific programme, with users supported by local teams. The STARS group currently includes the scientific coordinators of EXOGAM, ACTAR, AGATA and PARIS, who provide support to users. The group is supporting the LISE scientific programme including the MUGAST-EXOGAM-ZDD campaign. In the medium term, the group’s flagship project for the end of the decade is the return of AGATA to GANIL for a 2029–2030 (+1) campaign in a VAMOS–GRIT–AGATA configuration with the SPIRAL1 beams. ACTAR is expected to return from 2026 in-beam at the facility, most likely at the fragment separator LISE, and will be one of the group’s main instruments.
The group is heavily involved in international collaborations, constructing state-of-the-art instrumentation such as gamma-ray spectrometers for the AGATA and PARIS projects, a charged particle array for the GRIT project, and an active target for the ACTAR project.
